Florida Postal History Society Journal Vol. 20, No. 2 Page ... · Novelties, Sea Shells, and Souvenirs” could be purchased. FIGURE 6 1928 postcard from “Osky’s Alligator Store”

Page � ... May 20�3Vol. 20, No. 2Florida Postal History Society Journal

Promoting Philately in the Sunshine State

Vol. 20, No. 2 May 20�3 Whole No. 53

Continued on page 3

FLORIDA POSTAL HISTORY JOURNAL

By Todd A. Hirn

In his January 2009 article in the Journal, author Deane Briggs invited readers to share other Florida alli-

gator illustrated corner card advertising covers from their collections. Here are a few additional examples that may be of interest.

Loudwick Warrock moved from Rich-mond, Virginia to Jacksonville in 1856 where he apprenticed in the candy making business. He later established Warrock & Company Manufacturing Confectioners and was using the alligator illustrated ad-vertising trademark shown in Figure 1 as early as 1878. Warrock’s business was

More Florida Alligator Advertising

sold to the Crown Confectionery Company in 1914. The company continued making jelly and marmalade into the 1930s. The original building on Main Street, a historic Jacksonville site, still stands.

The Florida Curio Company (Figure 2) was also located in Jacksonville. Note the unusual “Quaint, Curious and Queer Curi-osities from Everywhere” address line text. A Google search failed to reveal any further information on the business.

H.P. Fridenberg (Figure 3), seller of Flori-da Curios and Novelties, is found listed in the 1878-79 Webb’s Jacksonville Directory

FIGURE 2Circa 1894 “The Florida Curio Co.” alligator illustrated corner

card with unusual address line text advertising.

FIGURE 1 Ornate 1894 “Warrock & Co., Manufacturing Confectioners”

illustration of a winged nymph holding a candy cane while riding an alligator.

Page 2 ... May 20�3 Vol. 20, No. 2 Florida Postal History Society Journal

FLORIDA POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETY OFFICERS 20�3-20�4

PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

SECRETARY/TREASURER

JOURNAL EDITORS

PAST PRESIDENT

WEBMASTER

TODD HIRNof Port Orange, Florida

DANIEL B. CURTISof Tampa, Florida

DEANE R. BRIGGS, M.D.of Winter Haven, Florida

DEANE R. BRIGGS, M.D.of Winter Haven, FloridaDR. EVERETT L. PARKERof Lake City, Florida

ALEXANDER HALLof Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

FRANCIS FERGUSONof Plymouth, Florida

Membership in the Florida Postal History Society

is open to all. Membership applications may be

obtained from: Deane R. Briggs, M.D., 2000 N. Lake Eloise Dr., Winter Haven, FL 33884

Telephone: (863) 324-7�83 [home];(863) 22�-47�0 [cell];

email: [email protected] or by link on our webpage: www.FPHSonline.com

TABLE OF CONTENTSMore Florida Alligator Advertisingby Todd A. Hirn ................................................ �, 3-4

Florida Postal History Society Officers................ 2

St. Augustine Patriotic Labelby William H. Johnson ........................................ 5-6

Key West, Florida “Paid”: A new listingby Deane R. Briggs, M.D. ....................................... .7

History and Postal History of Tangerine, Floridaby Phil Eschbach .............................................. .8-�3

Mail from a Tree Beside the St. Johns River?by Christine C. Sanders & Deane R. Briggs......�4-�7

Gomez, Florida Doane -- a New Listingby Deane R. Briggs, M.D. ...................................... �8

Annual meeting held at Sarasota stamp show ... �9

FPHS Dealer Members & Contributing Members................................................................ 20

The “Tropical Postcard Club” Summer Show will be held on August 10, 2013 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pompano Beach Civic Center, 1801 NE Sixth Street, Pompano Beach, FL 33060. Any dealer wishing to rent a table should con-tact Thomas Moore, Show Chairman, 6880 SW 75th Terrace, South Miami, FL 33143-4427. His telephone is (305) 666-0219.

Tropical Postcard Club Summer Show coming on August 10

Page 3 ... May 20�3Vol. 20, No. 2Florida Postal History Society Journal

Continued on page 4

FIGURE 4Comical banjo playing alligator on 1899 J. Osky “Florida Curiosities,

Shell Novelties and Fancy Goods” illustrated corner card. The addressee, Frank H. Lattin, was also a curio dealer and publisher

of The Oologist.

and was located on Bay Street. Fridenberg is noted as donating a chameleon to the Field Museum of Natural History in the museum’s 1895 Director’s Report.

Osky’s, also known as Osky’s Curio Shop or Osky’s Alligator Store, (Figures 4, 5, and 6) was founded in Jacksonville in 1884 and was one of the longest lasting curio dealers, surviving at least into the 1950s. Osky’s sold many tourist items made out of alligator skin in-cluding wallets, purses, and even lamps! The company promoted itself over many years using all sorts of ad-vertising items such as illustrated covers, postcards, felt

pennants, and banners. The postcard in Figure 6 states that “a visit to Jacksonville is not complete without seeing Osky’s Curio Store.”

Shown last is an advertising cover from The Tampa Alligator Farm (Figure 7) founded just before World War I in Sulphur Springs Park. Note the rather clever “Open the Year Round” text inside the open jaws of the alligator in the illustration. Ac-cording to Rinaldi’s official guide book of Tampa and South Florida, visitors could purchase a live baby alligator “crated for shipping,” for only $1! One could also see the “ed-ucated alligators exhibited at every

performance.” This item was mailed during the period when the Sulphur Springs post office was a rural sta-tion of Tampa, from April 1921 to October 1924. The postmark is not frequently seen.

The watermarked background image was taken from a full color L. Warrock advertisement from Webb’s 1878-1879 Jacksonville Directory.

ReferencesBrantz, Dorothee. Animals, Humans and the Study

of History. University of Virginia Press, 2010. See page 139.Briggs, Deane R. “Those alligator corner cards,” Florida Postal His-tory Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Janu-ary 2009).“Warrock & Company Jelly Fac-tory-Jacksonville Architecture,” h t t p : / / w w w. j a x h i s t o r y. c o m /Jax%20Arch%20Herit/D-85.htm, accessed December 30, 2012.Webb’s Jacksonville Directory, 1878-9, p. 105, University of Flor-ida Digital Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, http://ufdc.ufl.edu/NF00000065/00001/41?search=fridenberg, Accessed December 30, 2012.“Thousands of Live Alligators on

FIGURE 31898 H.P. Fridenberg “Florida Curios and Novelties” advertising cover

with illustration of fierce looking alligator.

Page 4 ... May 20�3 Vol. 20, No. 2 Florida Postal History Society JournalFree Exhibition - World Digital Library,” http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3941/.Ac-cessed December 30, 2012.Van Horn, Charles Vincent. Rinaldi’s offi-cial guide book of Tampa and South Flori-da. Tampa, FL: Rinaldi Printing Co., 1920. http://archive.org/details/rinaldisofficial-01vanh. Internet Archive, Accessed Decem-ber 30, 2012.“Annual Report of the Director to the Board of Trustees for the Year 1894-95,” Field Columbian Museum Publication 6, Vol. 1, No. 1, Chicago, IL, October 1895. See p. 35. Google Books, Accessed December 31, 2012.

FIGURE 71924 “Tampa Alligator

Farm” corner card illustration. “Curios,

Novelties, Sea Shells, and Souvenirs” could be

purchased.

FIGURE 6 1928 postcard from “Osky’s Alligator Store” invites visitors to see “Big Joe,”

the 14 foot “Man Eater.”

FIGURE 5 Interior view of “Osky’s Curio Store” on a 1910 postcard.


Continued on page 6

By William H. Johnson, D.D.S.

Patriotic covers used during the Civil War are actually quite common, with an estimated

7,800+ designs known. The use of patriotic labels or “stickers” is much less common with only 101 face-dif-ferent labels identified, according to Arthur H. Groten, M.D., whose re-cent article in the Collector’s Club Philatelist stirred my interest.1

The cover in Figure 1 is the only us-age of a Union Patriotic label from Florida of which I am aware. I have personally contacted Dr. Groten and found that he is unaware of any as well and that this cover was not from his collection. The “SAINT AUGUSTINE / FLO” 26mm postmark has known usage from April 1862 to January 1864, ac-cording to Michael C. McClung’s recent article “Union Occupation Mail” in the Chronicle which is consistent

St. Augustine Patriotic Label

with the usage of a Union patriotic label.2

The label on the above cover was produced by the print-er Snow & Hapgood, 40 Devonshire St., Boston, and was printed on a large sheet with 54 labels (Figure 2). This large sheet from the Groten collection contained

seven different large sized labels and two different small square flag designs from which the label on my cover orig-inated. This sheet is considered by Dr. Groten to be unique. Other patriotic la-bel producers include Fowler & Wells from New York, C.Y. Haynes & Co., of Philadelphia, Howland from Worces-ter, Massachusetts, and Harbach & Brothers. The Snow & Hapgood labels are known with biblical references as shown in the corner block taken from Figure 1 of Groten’s article.

The Groten collection of 70 covers and several unused sheets was sold recently by Spink for $23,000, pricing these pa-triotic label covers at the high end of all Union patriotic usages. There were also Confederate patriotic labels pro-duced, listed as Stickers and Seals, of

FIGURE 1“SAINT AUGUSTINE / FLO FEB 9” postmark with killer cancelled pair of U.S. Scott #65 on cover to Boston with Union Patriotic label.

FIGURE 2Sheet of 54 labels produced by Snow & Hapgood.


FIGURE 4 “WARRINGTON / Fla.” undated postmark with “Sailor Nailing Flag

to the Mast” Confederate patriotic sticker, ST-4.

which only seven different designs have been recorded. These are also quite scarce and priced when tied on cover in the $2,000-$7,000 range in the 2012 edition of the Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History.3

There is one Confederate sticker recorded with known Florida usage. It is ST-4, “Sailor Nailing Flag to the Mast. Eleven Stars and Bars with a blue ornamental frame.” There are currently four recorded examples of this sticker known with Warrington, Florida postmarks, one of which is postmark tied. The cover in Figure 1 is currently the only known Florida usage of a Union patriotic label.

FOOTNOTES1 Groten, Arthur H., “Union Patriotic Labels of the Civil War,” Collectors Club Philatelist, Vol. 90, No. 2, March-April 2011, 123-129.

2 McClung, Michael. C., “Union Occupation Mail,” Chronicle, vol. 65, no. 1, whole 237, February 2013, pp. 48-70.

3 Kaufmann, Patricia, Francis Crown Jr., and Jerry S. Palazzolo. Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History. Confederate Stamp Alliance, Inc., 2012, 442.

FIGURE 3The margin imprint identifies the printer as

Snow & Hapgood of Boston. Of particular interest is the inclusion of biblical references on five of the

labels. The references are semiotically related to the image and would have been well known to the gen-

eral public at that time.


By Deane R. Briggs, M.D.

The cover in Figure 1 is to the au-thor’s knowledge a new postmark example from Key West. In our so-

ciety book, Florida Stampless Postal His-tory 1763 – 1861 there is a similar 32mm cds with an (unpaid) “5” listed as Type IV and a 32mm cds with a “FREE” listed as Type V. Those are recorded only with black ink. The postmark in Figure 1 is 32mm with a “PAID” and will be listed in a future edi-tion of our book as Type VI. To date, it is known only in red ink. Figure 2 shows an enhanced scan of this postmark.

The cover is addressed to London, England and is “paid” on the reverse with a nice right margin block of four of the 12¢ U.S. Scott #36 (Figure 3) paying the double 24¢ rate to England. That block is nicely cancelled with the same “DEC 26” postmark in red ink. According Richard Frajola, this cover went by ship to New York where the red “6” credit for the double rate by an American Packet was applied. There is no New York exchange office marking noted. The cover was carried by the N.Y. & Havre Line steamer Arago which departed New York City on January 7, 1859, and arrived at Southampton on January 20, 1860. It received a red London paid marking the following day, on January 21, (1860).

Blocks of four of the early U.S. postage stamps are uncommon and carry a significant premium valuation. Used blocks on cover are even more uncommon and not specifically listed as only pairs on cover carry a valuation.

The author appreciates the assistance of Florida Postal History Society members

Richard Frajola and Yamil Kouri with this article. Readers with other early use of

high value stamps on covers from Florida are encouraged to submit scans for publi-

cation and documentation.

FIGURE 2Enhanced scan of postmark.

FIGURE 3Cover reverse with margin block of four of 12¢ U.S. #36 can-celled by red “KEY WEST FLA / PAID DEC 26” postmark.

Key West, Florida “Paid”:A new listing

FIGURE 1“KEY WEST FLA / PAID DEC 26” (1859) red postmark

on cover to London, England.


Tangerine lies in the north-western corner of Orange County, northwest of Orlan-

do and Apopka, and just south of the Lake County border and the town of Mt. Dora. Today, it is probably best known as the fictional setting for the book Tangerine by Edward Bloor. The town was founded by Dudley Adams, who moved from Waukon, Iowa in the early 1870s. He was born in Massachusetts and was a direct descendant of President John Adams. He built a log cabin on the eastern bank of Lake Beauclair in 1875.

The town was originally called Olaville, after a nearby lake, but was renamed Tanger-

History and Postal History of Tangerine, Florida

ine in 1879 at the suggestion of Adams’ sister-in-law, who saw a tangerine tree growing in the yard. Lake Ola

was named after a local Indian chief’s daughter who frequently camped nearby. Adams, a poet, writer, and naturalist, quickly turned to growing citrus and planted many acres in the sur-rounding area. He later founded and became the president of the state horticulture society.

Raymond J. Wright, the next major settler, followed in 1878, coming from Michigan. He pur-chased 100 acres and also plant-ed citrus on 10 acre plots. Lewis Marot arrived in 1879 from St. Louis in a covered wagon pulled by two mules. He became the town’s first shopkeeper and acted as an unofficial postmas-

By Phil Eschbach

FIGURE 1Late 1880s advertising cover from Tangerine, Florida.

FIGURE 2The 1879 store, currently the oldest remaining structure in Tangerine,

likely the original Marot home and site of his shop and post office, currently apartments.


Continued on page 10

ter from 1879 until the U.S. Post Office was established on June 13, 1881 (Figure 2).

He remained as the first postmas-ter of Tangerine until 1886, when his son Henry took over the posi-tion. Figure 1 shows a unique type of advertising cover from Henry G. Wright, circa late 1880s, with an equally unique map and all-over advertisement for his real estate business extolling the benefits of Tangerine and of speculation (Fig-ure 3). Henry Marot would inter-mittently serve as postmaster until 1902. At this time the closest major post office was in Mellonville (San-ford), which was 25 miles away. The mail was delivered by horseback from Mellonville once a week and sometimes Mr. Marot would go to Mellonville by wagon to get supplies for his shop and the mail (See Figures 4 and 5).

At the beginning of the 20th century, mail was delivered once a day from Zellwood by horse and later by car. In 1938, twice daily mail delivery was begun and in 1940, a Star Route from Orlando to Leesburg carried the mail to and from Tangerine. On July 1, 1946, Tangerine be-came busy enough to advance from a fourth class post office to a third class office, and in 1949, a new High-way Post Office (HPO) service was begun and mail was

delivered twice a day by bus.

In 1881, Mr. George Wood and his wife vis-ited Tangerine and stayed with the Adams, who were friends of Mrs. Wood’s sister from Massachusetts. In 1882, the Woods bought property from Mr. Wright and built their house, later known as Woodlawn Villa. This building has been preserved to this day and is one of the oldest remaining homes in Tangerine (Figure 7).

Later a railroad was being constructed to connect small towns in the area, but the residents of Tangerine denied its access through the town, so it was routed through

Mt. Dora instead. The railroad access led to the devel-opment of the Mt. Dora area, while Tangerine remained a small rural town. Tangerine was quite isolated and the preferred tourist route to Tangerine from the north was by steamer to Fernandina, then to Jacksonville by rail, from Jacksonville via steamboat on the St. Johns River to Astor, then by narrow gauge rail to Fort Mason on Lake Eustis, from Fort Mason across the lake to Eustis by boat. From Eustis one went by wagon to Tangerine.

The first hotel, the Acme Hotel, was built by Mr. Red-dick and began operation in 1883. Mr. Earle bought it

FIGURE 3Reverse of Wright advertising cover with hand-drawn map of

Tangerine.

FIGURE 4 Original post office, circa 1910.

Page �0 ... May 20�3 Vol. 20, No. 2 Florida Postal History Society Journal

in 1884, and re-named it the Wachusett House, changed later in the 20th century to the Lake Ola Lodge (See Figures 8 and 9). Figure 10 shows an early use of the Tangerine Doane Type II(3) postmark on an advertising corner card cover for the Wachusett House with W. H. Earle still the proprietor in 1905.

The first church was a Congregational Church and was built in 1886; it is still standing (Figure 11). The first organist was Mrs. Lottie Wright Twichell, the youngest daughter of R. J. Wright. The first minister was Perrin

FIGURE 5Post office with horse drawn cart, not unlike that

used by Lewis Marot.

Fisk. The first school was in a log cabin and its first teacher was Miss Minnie Wright, another daughter of the pioneer, R. J. Wright.

The great freeze of 1895 wiped out the citrus industry in Florida, but unlike many other citrus grow-ing towns in Florida, Tangerine’s residents replanted citrus, this time adding to the variety of agricultural products with pineapples, tomatoes and other vegetables. Tangerine never really developed into a major citrus town, but did have two small packing houses, Sadler Groves and Tangerine Fruit Co., currently long out of business.

Clarence Estey arrived in 1919 from Canada, and married Winifred Wood, daughter of founder George Wood and lived in Woodlawn Villa until recent times. He became postmaster, a position he kept until 1933, and was also a local shopkeeper. His son, Ward Estey, became postmaster later in 1937. An-other early settler of note, Henry Brown from Vermont, came in 1920, and was a cousin of Calvin Coolidge.

Tangerine remains a “sleepy” little town today, with no mayor and only a simple sign noting that the town was established in 1909, well after the post office was established (Figure 12). Even the current U.S. Post Of-fice building is small by post office standards, just large enough to service the population of 826 (2000 census), living in 350 homes with a minimum lot size of one acre (Figure 13).

The color photos used in this article are by the author, eschbachphoto.com. The author appreciates the re-production of postal covers from the Deane R. Briggs collection. The photos in Figure 4 and Figure 5 were copied from photos on the wall of the Tangerine Post Office. The photos in Figure 8 and Figure 9 are from the State of Florida Archives.

TANGERINE POSTMASTERS

Lewis Marot: June 13, 1881-1886Henry Marot: June 29, 1886 // 1902

Charles C. Aston: August 5, 1902 - 1902John F. Mason: December 8, 1902 - 1903

John Stewart: May 20, 1903 - 1914Mary E. Dayton: March 16, 1914 - 1919Ella A. Tallant: August 25, 1919 - 1923Clarence Estey: July 11, 1923 - 1930

John W. Jepson: August 23, 1930 - 1937Ward S. Estey: August 17, 1961

(In 1946, Estey built a new post office next to the store which previously had been the post office.)

Leonard R. Dyer: July 16, 1962 - 1987Seventeen additional postmasters or officers in

charge have served from 1987 to date.

More illustrations on page 11-13.

Page �� ... May 20�3Vol. 20, No. 2Florida Postal History Society Journal

FIGURE 7 1882 Woodlawn Villa, now a private home.

FIGURE 6 “TANGERINE, FLA. MAR 18, 1895” magenta postmark

on cover to London, England. The cover was then forwarded to Jerusalem using the Thomas Cook & Sons agent in Jerusalem.




FIGURE 8Wachusett House in 1884.

FIGURE 9 Renamed the Lake Ola Lodge. Shown circa 1905.

FIGURE 10 Advertising corner card for Wachusett House with

Doane Type II (3) postmark.

The two photographs on this page are from the State Archives of Florida and are used with

permission.

Page �3 ... May 20�3Vol. 20, No. 2Florida Postal History Society Journal

FIGURE 13Current U.S. Post Office at Tangerine, Florida.

FIGURE 12 Sign currently noting entrance to Tangerine, Florida.

FIGURE 11The oldest church in Tangerine, built in 1886.



By Christine C. Sanders and Deane R. Briggs

This article concerns two covers with the unusual post-mark “St. Johns River, Fla.” The first cover (Figure 1) is a U.S. embossed stamped envelope (Scott #U159) ad-dressed to William L. Garrison Jr. for Mrs. M. C. Wright, 32 Linwood St. Roxbury-Boston, Mass. It has a manu-script postmark dated “Dec 25, St. Johns River Fla.” The year is unknown, but is probably somewhere be-tween 1874, the first year of issue of #U159, and 1883 when the domes-tic first class rate changed to two cents.

Socia l /cul -tural histo-rians would be interested in the ad-dressees of this cover. Wm. L. Gar-rison Jr. was the son of r e n o w n e d abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, Sr., who founded the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator in 1831. He was also well known for his leadership in peace move-ments of the 19th century. His son, Wm. L. Garrison, Jr., was a prosperous merchant and wool broker who also managed his father’s financial affairs. He, too, was involved in prominent causes of his day including Henry George’s single tax movement, free trade and women’s suffrage. His wife was Ellen Wright, whose mother was Mrs. Martha Coffin Wright, the second ad-dressee on the cover. Mrs. Wright, along with sister Lu-cretia Coffin Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jane Hunt,

Mail from a Tree Beside the St. Johns River?

and Mary Ann McClintock, planned the first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York. In 1874, within the time frame of this cover, she was president of the National Woman Suffrage Association.

The interesting aspect of this cover to philatelists is its postmark. In the Florida Postal History Journal of Sep-tember, 1996 a second cover (Figure 2) postmarked “St. Johns River, Fla” was presented as a mystery cover. This

Scott #U82 e m b o s s e d s t a m p e d e n v e l o p e ( i s s u e d 1 8 7 0 - 7 1 ) postmarked with a cds preceded the e s t a b l i s h -ment of the only docu-mented post office by this name in Florida by approximate-ly 76 years. H o w e v e r , since the U.S. Post Office

Department approved a handstamp postmarking device for this “post office,” it must have existed somewhere.

Despite a personal check of the microfilm records from the National Archives, we have been unable to locate any post office or any town named St. Johns River in Florida during this time period. So, if it was not a town, what could it be? This time period was the golden age of steamboats in Florida, so perhaps it is a steamboat postmark. There was a steamboat named St. Johns that provided service from Charleston via Savannah to Flor-ida in the 1850s, but it burned on July 21, 1856 while

FIGURE 1U.S. embossed stamped envelope with manuscript postmark,

“St. Johns River, Fla.” Circa 1874-1883.


Continued on page 16

moored in Jacksonville. It was rebuilt and returned to service in February 1857. However, during the Civil War it was used as a blockade runner by the Confederacy and was captured by Union forces in 1863. It was sold by the government and renamed the Helen Getty by its new owners in December 1863 and finished the war on the Union side. It returned to the St. Johns River after the war, but under a different name.

A second steamboat named the St. Johns, (Figures 3, 4) an iron hulled two masted sidewheeler, was launched on August 27, 1878, and made twice weekly trips between Charleston and Palatka faster than any other steamer, but only for the 1878-1879 and 1881-1882 tourist season before servicing the New York and New Jersey area. She was also a long 260 x 64 foot vessel and carried up to 1,150 passen-gers. Thus, this St. Johns, while operating in Florida for only two winter tourist seasons during the time of the manuscript postmarked cover, was unlikely to be used

by the U.S. Post Office Department for mail service. Further, the name of the steamboat never included the word “river.” The absence of any reference to “ship” or a ship’s name on the cover also suggests that this is not a steamboat cancel (i.e., it was not used to service mail received from passengers onboard the steamboat).

Other possibilities for this postmark must include some other association with the St. Johns River itself. From

1859 to 1929, there was the St. Johns River Lighthouse near the mouth of the river on the south side, one mile inland at what is now the Mayport U.S. Naval Station. This lighthouse was operational during the entire time except for a period between 1864 and 1867 after a Confeder-ate sympathizer shot out the lamp. However, there is no evidence that the lighthouse ever served as a mail center or post office. Another pos-sibility is that the cover was post-marked on the St. Johns and Lake Eustis Railway. However, this nar-row gauge railroad which ran from Astor on the St. Johns River to Eu-stis was not completed until 1880 and did not use “River” in its name.

FIGURE 2U.S. embossed stamped envelope postmarked by circular datestamp,

“St. Johns River, Fla.” Circa 1870-1874.

FIGURE 3Charleston, Savannah and Florida Steam Packet Co.

with St. Johns steamboat.


FIGURE 5Advertisement for the

De Bary Merchants’ Line.

There are no postmarks from this railway listed in the U.S. Railway Post Office Postmark Catalog 1864-1977, suggesting that it was not involved with carrying the mails.

A final possibility resides with the river itself. In a fasci-nating book written by George M. Barbour in 1881 titled Florida for Tourists, Invalids and Settlers, the author describes his steam-boat excursion “up” the St. Johns River. Since the river flows north, one is traveling south when traveling up this river. In this book, all of the distances he travels are giv-en as “miles by mail-steamer route.” The entire St. Johns River was a mail route dur-ing this time. The De Bary line was an offi-cial mail carrier on the river and stopped at all “mail-stations” along the route (Figure 5). This steamboat line had side-wheeler steamers that traveled the lower and middle river basins (Jacksonville to Sanford) and also smaller, two deck stern-wheelers for traveling the small, narrow, crooked river in the upper basin that terminated in the ex-treme southern headwaters of the St. Johns River in Lake Washington. An illustration titled “A River Post Office” showed one of these small steamers leaving a landing that

FIGURE 4Actual photograph of the St. Johns side-wheeler.

had a hollowed out tree with a plank lead-ing to its opening (Figure 6).

On the river side of the tree was attached a small box with the initials “U.S.M.” In many areas of the St. Johns River during the 19th century, there were no towns or any real settlements. Cattle roamed large areas and residents had few if any neighbors oth-er than the omnipresent alligators. Perhaps a primitive post office such as this serviced the cover. Since it was not located in any established town or settlement, it merely marked its only identifiable location as “St. Johns River, Fla.” An alternative, but relat-ed hypothesis would be that the steamboat collected mail from such primitive post of-fices (possibly unattended) along the route and serviced them on the boat after collec-tion. Since the mail had not originated on the boat, but at the river post box, it was marked “St. Johns River, Fla.” -- the loca-

tion of the box and not an actual post office. The use of government stamped envelopes such as both of these, would obviate the need for stamps prior to mailing at the river post box.

Page �7 ... May 20�3Vol. 20, No. 2Florida Postal History Society JournalMueller, Edward A. Local History Series of the Kellers-berber Fund, Vol. 7. Melbourne, Florida: South Bre-vard Historical Society, 1980.Mueller, Edward A. St. Johns River Steamboats. Jack-sonville, Florida, 1986.Towle, Charles L., Fred MacDonald. The United States Railway Post Office Postmark Catalog 1864 to 1977. Mobile Post Office Society, Inc., rev. ed., 2001.A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of The Garrison Fam-ily Papers. Series 9: Scrapbooks, 1833-1909. Located at http://cisupa.proquest.com/ksc_assets/catalog/103346.pdf.National Archives Microcopy No. M-841, Roll No. 19-21, “Records of the Post Office Dept. Record of Ap-pointment of Postmasters 1832 -Sept. 30, 1971.

FIGURE 6Illustration from

Florida for Tourists, Invalids and Settlers.

Clearly, these hypotheses as to the source of the post-mark are not necessarily the only possibilities. Any member that would like to propose other possibilities is urged to contribute information on these very fascinat-ing covers. All hypotheses are welcomed.

References

Barbour, George M. Florida for Tourists, Invalids and Settlers. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1881.Briggs, Deane R. “St. Johns River, Florida,” The Flor-ida Postal History Journal, Vol. 3, No. 2 (September 1996).Graham, Richard B. United States Postal History Sam-pler. Sidney, Ohio: Amos Publishing Co., 1992. (Linn’s Handbook Series).


By Deane R. Briggs, M.D.

The census of Florida Doane postmarks has been near completion for several years. It is unusual for a new Florida Doane listing to be recognized and this past year there have been only two, this Gomez Type II (1?) and the Safety Harbor Doanes discussed in the last issue of the Journal. When the late Richard W. Helbock

published his United States Doanes book in 1993, there were a total of 389 listings from Florida out of an estimat-ed total of 540, or 72 percent completion. Over the past 20 years, the total number in the census has grown to 524, or 97 percent completion. This means that there are only a few more Florida towns to be discovered which might have used Doane postmarks. A total of 24 of the Doanes examples in the total census of 524 are actually different types or variations from the same town. This means that at the current time there were 500 different post offices in Florida which are documented as having used Doane postmarks. The total number of post offices operating in Florida during the 1904-1906 period ranged from 1,195 in 1905 to 1,168 in 1906, with 1,181 in 1904 (the exact average for these three years). This means that over 42 percent of all Florida post offices used a Doane postmark-ing device during this time period. This percentage will obviously increase slightly as more new listings become documented, but it is still a fairly high number of towns in Florida that used these devices. The Gomez, Fla. Doane shown above is a classic Type II Doane with a 28mm dial and four parallel pairs of thin bars in the killer. The number in the killer bars is not clear but is likely a (1). Any reader with Florida Doane postmarks in their collec-tions are encouraged to submit a list of them to the author to update the ongoing Florida Doane census.

Gomez, Florida Doane -- a New Listing

FIGURE 1“GOMEZ, FLA FEB 27 1907” Doane Type II (1?) postmark.


The annual meeting of the Florida Postal History Society be-

gan at noon on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at the Sarasota National Stamp Exhibition. A total of 24 members and guests were present for the meeting and program. New officers for a two year term (2013-2014) were announced: Todd A. Hirn, President; Daniel B. Curtis, Vice President; and Deane R. Briggs, M.D., Secretary-Treasurer. The treasurer’s report showed current balance of $4,588.39, down slightly from prior years as a result of a slight decrease in mem-bership. Current membership totals 116. The problem of decreasing revenue was addressed and due to the cost of journal publication and mailing exceeding dues, it was decided that beginning in 2014, the $15 dues level would cover a digital copy of the journal in a pdf

Annual meeting held at Sarasota stamp show

FPHS webmaster Francis Ferguson helping Dr. Deane Briggs get the projector working prior to the start of the

annual meeting.

A segment of the 24 members and guests attending the annual meeting of the Florida Postal History Society in Sarasota on February 2, 2013.

file, and members wishing to continue to receive the published journal would require the current “contribut-ing membership” level of $25. Those members renewing at the $15 level will receive the mailed journal for this year. A discussion regarding the updating of our society book, Florida Stampless Postal History 1763-1861, led to Ron Cipolla offer-

ing to become a new member and pay to have the entire book (now out of print with no new copies available) digitally reproduced in a pdf to add to our website as a link for members or for a nominal charge for non-members. Revising the entire book with updates and color is still in progress and any member wishing to head up this project should contact Dr. Briggs. Mem-bership applications and copies of the January journal were passed out to prospective members. The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m. and was followed by Dr. Briggs’ powerpoint presentation “Florida Stampless Postal History 1763-1861” to the joint societies: The U.S. Philatelic Classics So-ciety and the Florida Postal History Society.


FLORIDA POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETYCONTRIBUTING MEMBERS - 20�3

The.following.members.of.the.Florida.Postal.History.Society.have.been.denoted.“Contributing Members”.for.their.additional.contributions.to.the.

Society..The.support.of.these.members.keeps.us.fiscally sound and enables us to respond to member and.non-member.inquiries.regarding.Florida.postal.

history.and.send.sample.copies.of.our.Journal.----

Hector ArveloDonald BallCarol BarrusLawrence F. C. BaumJohn J. BeirneRichard F. BergmannDeane R. Briggs, M.D.Paul BroomeConrad L. BushWalter S. ClarkeJoseph ConfoyTony L. CrumbleyDaniel B. CurtisRobert DeCarloJames L. DiamondElwyn J. Doubleday, Jr.Gus DuebenPhil EschbachFrancis FergusonDouglas S. Files, M.D.Florida Stamp Dealers AssociationRichard FrajolaRonald E. GotcherAlex HallJames E. HamffWilliam J. HancockRonald R. HarmonRobert J. HausinJerry HejdukGary G. HendrenWilliam L. HendryHenry HigginsTodd A. HirnStan JamesonWilliam Johnson, D.D.S.William H. JohnstonEdward R. Joyce, Jr.Patricia A. KaufmannJohn L. Kimbrough, M.D.Richard D. Kinner, CLU FICHoward King

Leon KingDr. Vernon KislingAlan E. KnightAlvin L. Krasne, D.D.S.Norman D. KublerBarbara KuchauCarolyn B. LewisRev. David C. LingardMillard H. MackCharles F. Meroni, Jr.Ray MessierJames MosesMike MullinsRichard F. MurphyBurnam S. NeillKevin S. NicholsStephen B. PacettiDr. Everett L. ParkerStephen PatrickLouis PetersenDavid G. PhillipsVincent P. PolizattoWilliam D. RadfordMichael Rogers, Inc.Steven M. RothJoe RubinfineSchuyler RumseyMitchell E. SappNiles SchuhJack SeamanCasimir SkrzypczakJesse SpectorS. George TragerJohn WattsJim WestRobert B. WhitneyC. Michael WiedemannBen WishnietskyDave WrisleyJohn E. YoungCentral Florida Stamp Club

TONY L. CRUMBLEYP.O..Box.681447Charlotte,.NC.28216(704).395-1191www.tonycrumbley.com

ELWYN J. DOUBLEDAY JRCover.Crazy.2P.O..Box.119Alton,.NH.03809-0119www.covercrazy2.com

PHIL FETTIGP.O..Box.2679Orlando,.FL.32856-8334(407).859-9109.

RICHARD FRAJOLAP.O..Box.2679Ranchos.De.Taos,.NM.87557(505).751-7607

ROBERT J. HAUSINNew.England.Stamp4897.Tamiami.Trail.EastNaples,.FL..34113(239)[email protected]...

HENRY HIGGINS302.S..Irish.St..P.O..Box.1553Greenville,.TN..37744(423).636-8361

STAN JAMESONP.O..Box.264St..Petersburg,.FL..33731(727).526-5203

PATRICIA A. KAUFMANN10194.N..Old.State.RoadLincoln,.DE..19960(302).422-2656

FLORIDA POSTAL HISTORY SOCIETYDEALER MEMBERS

Below.is.a.listing.of.FPHS.members.who.are.also.stamp.dealers..Please.support.our.dealer.members.

when.visiting.stamp.shows,.or.by.mail!

JOHN L. KIMBROUGH10140.Wandering.WayBenbrook,.TX..76126(817).244-2447

JOEL RIND14.W..8th.StreetChattanooga,.TN..37402(423).266-0723

MICHAEL ROGERS INC.415.S..Orlando.Ave..Suite.4-1Winter.Park,.FL.32789(407).644-2290

JOE RUBINFINEP.O..Box.1000Cocoa,.FL.32923(321).455-1666

SCHUYLER RUMSEY47.Kearny.Street..#500San.Francisco,.CA..94108(415).781-5127

S. GEORGE TRAGER1090.Kane.Concourse.#201Bay.Harbor,.FL.33154(305).868-4727

PHIL V. WARMANSuncoast.Stamp.Co.,.Inc.8520.S..Tamiami.TrailSarasota,.FL..34238(800).921-3316

C. MICHAEL WIEDEMANNP.O..Box.301Titusville,.FL..32781(321).269-3377

Documents

Florida Postal History Society Journal Vol. 20, No. 2 Page ... · Novelties, Sea Shells, and Souvenirs” could be purchased. FIGURE 6 1928 postcard from “Osky’s Alligator Store”